Leap Year Mead 2

CornyKegs 728
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First What Styple

  • Cirtus

  • Vanilla

  • Previous Recpe (Please explain)

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Racked off the vanilla today, SG 1004, so coming in at around 16.4%AV.
Nose and palate of rocket - no surprise there - and vanilla. The vanilla palate lingers on and on. Finish reminds me of creaming soda back before it became a chemical concoction.
Looking forward to its future.
 
Well, finally racked and bottled the leap year mead yesterday. Decided to let it sit on its lees for the last 6 months or so. As a result, the scraped vanilla bean I originally left in there had soaked up so much fluid it resembled something more like a banana peel. :p

The mead smells fantastic, but with a very dry strong alcohol taste. The aftertaste is fairly nice, but at the moment it's a bit volatile! About 14.5%. Hopefully it mellows out over time. Fermented out to 1000, so maybe next time I might try to leave it a bit sweeter.

Corked and ready to sit for 3 1/2 years - now on to the next project!
 
I am about to rack this beast again. I look lovingly in on it a few times a week, as it's aging right next to the rest of my mead carboys...and it just makes me happy to look at them. I really don't see myself bottling this any time soon.

As a side note, I found a good source of honey for $2 per pound.
 
This source doesn't happen to reside hundreds of miles away from you in West Lafayette, Indiana, does it?

I racked mine onto the beans this past week, since I had a stuck ferment earlier. It smells heavenly already. I am seriously kicking myself for only making a gallon, but hopefully will be picking up more equipment in the next month, hoping SWMBO picks me up some carboys. Then again with only 5 bottles that have to be aged for 4 years, this will be one coveted treat to give myself. The only question is going to be, do I enjoy the whole batch next leap year, or savor just one bottle myself each leap year for 5?

Sooo many decisions, all to be made many many moons from now.
 
Tusch said:
The only question is going to be, do I enjoy the whole batch next leap year, or savor just one bottle myself each leap year for 5?
Click to expand...

I made 5 gallons....I will be bottling one gallon in beer bottles to "Sneak", but the rest will go into wine bottles (a few of the little 375ml for trading HINT HINT!) and I will hopefully have enough bottles that my great grand children will be able to crack into them...one at a time....ONLY on Leap Year Day!
 
I'm sold on that hint Kahuna, I will gladly do 3 or 4 750's and than a couple of 375's. Never done it, but would love to try a bottle swap.
 
Ok...finally racked off the beans....snuck a sip and wow! Still strong but the vanilla really mellows it out. This should be awesome in 3 more years :)
 
Have any of you guys snuck a taste of this? It's been almost a year and i'd be curious to know how it is. I've got 5 gallons of mead that is yet to be flavored with anything. It's about 4 months old so far. I am considering trying this recipe out. I know I won't actually wait 4 years to try it....more like 9 months probably.
 
Mine is still sitting on the beans as it has for the last 9 months or so. I keep thinking I need to get it bottled up and will snag a taste then.
 
I am planning on trying a bottle right around 2/28 just to see how it is!
 
I racked back in July and it smelled great and had a good vanillia taste. I put in another 6 beans and let it set until today.

Racked again today and it SG was 1.020 and there was not vanillia taste. In fact it didnt taste good at all?

Help I hate to think after all this time, I screwed this up..

Don "Ho"
 
Yours stopped at 1.020? I was certainly not expecting any residual sugars in this one. Mine is hovering somewhere around 1.000, I believe just below but I don't have my notes. In what way does it tastes bad?
 
When I racked the first time, the SG was .998. Now its 1.002(sry cnat tpye). This is the second one that I have that has changed SG..

Anyway, the taste was pretty acholic, and I understand that but there was a server after taste that I cant really explain. There was asbolutly no vanillia in either the smell or taste.

I am still new at this, so scewing up seems to be my way of life right now..
 
Well it could have just been a error in reading your hydrometer. Temperatures must be taken into account when reading specific gravities, so if the temperature changed, the FG could very well be the same but you just got a different reading. How long did you have it on the beans for? How much vanilla flavor was there before?
 
I had it on the first set of beans (6 beans that I scraped) for 4 months. The flaver was good and the vanilla flavor was good but a little light.

I then added 4 more beans that I just split and placed into the carboy. It stayed on those beans for 6 months.

Umm thinking on that maybe the outer bean covering is causing ths issue.

I remembered (after you made the comment), about the temp. Thats probally the issue..
 
I honestly have no idea about the flavor, perhaps someone else can help you on that. The vanilla flavor will mellow significantly, but it shouldn't go away that quickly. Also, the bean itself should not leave any off flavors that I am aware of.
 
Third rack today at 5 months. SG unchanged at 1003 so guess that's that; but the main event is drop-dead gorgeous. Vanilla and honey nose, vanilla throughout palate with honey tones at back. Great mouth feel, dry, no heat.
Thinking can only get better, gunna be a long wait. ;)
 
Just racked this (and "sampled" about a shot of it). HUGE vanilla nose. Color is about wheat field (daughter says it is "white grape juice color"). Still VERY strong (alcohol)...vanilla flavor is is there but subdued. I couldn't check gravity since my hydrometer (#9) broke as I was cleaning it for the brew I did today. I am gong to move this to the cellar since it is hitting the 90s this week.

I would love for everybody who made this to chime in with their "status".

-Will
 
Mine has been in bottles for ~ 1 year. I realize now that I racked and bottled WAY too early.

I tasted it on it's one year anniversary and it was quite hot and not too exciting, I was planning on trying a bottle every Feb28 until 2012.
 
I bottled mine a couple months ago. It had been on the beans for about a year and was very vanilla-y but incredible mellow. I have to say that keeping mead in carboys for 15 months really makes for a nice mead.
My hubby broke into a bottle even though I told him it was meant to be held until next leap day but he like it so much he couldn't help himself. :D
 
I racked mine in July, it is as clear as bottled water now, and it still has a huge vanilla nose. The flavor was kinda hinkey...alcoholic and strong, but a pinch of acid blend in the glass made for a very nice drink while racking. I assume I will bottle next summer....maybe.
 
My have been sitting on this last racking since Janurary. It still has very little vanilla smell. The taste is as BigKahuna states, alcoholic and strong and hinkey.

I am thinking of getting more beans and re-rack again. Comments, suggestions, complaints are all welcomed.

Don "Ho"
 
I had a bottle of this at a buddy's Mardis Gras party last weekend. It has improved so much I am very surprised. I really am kicking myself for not making a 5 gallon batch. I have 4 bottles left and they will most likely all hang around until leap year.

Anyone else tried any lately? We are coming up on the 2 year mark.
 
Well..it is almost 2 years now. I have forgotten about my 5 gallons for most of it. I THINK it is in the storage closet in the basement... I'll have to check.

I am thinking of re-racking to another carboy and MAYBE drop a couple vanilla beans in. I will have to see what the flavor/aroma is like first.

Anybody else doing anything with theirs?

-Will
 
Bottled mine up about 6 weeks ago at this point. Mine had a very heavy vanilla nose but was just smooth and silky on the tongue. It would be interesting to see where it goes in time, also I'm thinking of oaking a vanilla/cinnamon mead I'm making after trying my Leap Year Mead. What do people think of the oak addition to a mead similar to this one?
 
It has been almost 3 years now. I still have my 5 gallons in the carboy...I think I will bottle close to the end of Feb. Any suggestions on bottles? Is 12 oz beer bottles good?

Are we still planning on a swap?

-Will
 
JustMrWill said:
It has been almost 3 years now. I still have my 5 gallons in the carboy...I think I will bottle close to the end of Feb. Any suggestions on bottles? Is 12 oz beer bottles good?

Are we still planning on a swap?

-Will
Click to expand...

12oz beer bottles work fine, I have used them on many occasions for wine so I can have a few smaller samples to either share or test how a wine is progressing without opening an entire 750. However I would love to have the funds to be able to bottle half of each batch in 375mL wine bottles for similar reasons.
 
Thanks for the reminder Will, I bottled this a long time ago, but due to life had kind of slipped out of the hobby a bit.
 
Woo, one year to go... I only have 3 or 4 bottles left (just a 1 gallon batch), hahahaha!
 
Bottled almost 2 cases a couple months ago. The sample I had from the 1/2 full bottle was interesting. Still warm to hot (mellowed a tad). No vanilla nose anymore...it is now flowery. Not sure if that is a good thing or not.
 
Three months to go. I take it from the lack of activity on this thread that the swap has fallen by the wayside as well.

Oh well. I brought a couple of bottles to a gathering and got rave reviews.
 
I have 4 bottles left from my original gallon batch! Haven't tried it in almost 2 years at this point... I expect good things!
 
Just read this end to end and I'm jealous I didn't get in on this. Going to harass Big Kahuna for some of his :D Interested to see what it tastes like when you guys crack em open in about 2 months.
 

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